Safety-guard for car-wheels



(No Model.)

H. H. LIBBIIIG'v C. P. HARRIS. SAFETY GUARD FOR GAR WHEELS.

' No. 547,728. Patented 001;.8,1895.`

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` NTTED STATES PATENT HENRY H. LIBBING ANDA CHARLES P. HARRIS, OF SANFRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY-GUARD FOR CAR-WH EELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 547,728, dated October8, 1895. Application filed .Tune 17, 1825. Serial No. 553,035. (Nomodel.)

.To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY H. LIBBING and CHARLES P. HARRIS, citizens ofthe United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of SanFrancisco and State of California, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Safety-Guards for Car-Wheels; and we do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention relates to safety guards or fenders designed to protectthe public from injury by the wheels of electric and other railway-cars.

Our object is to provide a simple and certain device for accomplishingthis purpose, and one which will supply the following requisites: first,that of absolute protection from the wheels; second, automatic action,leaving the motorman free to attend to his brakes and reversingdevices;'third, a device which in normal position shall have such aclearance of the track and road-bed that it can never impede the motionof the car by striking the ground either on the level or at the.

commencement of a grade except when in use; fourth, a device that shallbeinstant and positive in its action no matter at what speed the car ismoving; ifth, a device that will be simple in construction, easy ofattachment, and not liableto get out of order. struction that answersall these conditions will be an effective guard, and, so far as we theguard hinged to the car-truck instead o f to the car-body.

Our safety-guard can be attached to a railway-car in either of twoways-to the bottom of the car-body or to the wheel-truck In cars withtwo trucks, in which there is very little longitudinal rocking, it canbe attached to the car-body. In single-truck cars, in which the car-bodydevelops a considerable rocking nio- Any contion at even moderate speed,we prefer to attach it to the truck; but it must not be understood thateither method of attachment is essential with either kind of car, andthe drawings show attachment both to the carbody and the truck.

The guard A is preferably made in curved form, so that it can act as ascoop to pick up abody or other obstruction from the track. It iscomposed of light metal rods or of strong wire, and one edge is hinged,as shown at l, either to the bottom of the car, Figs. 1 and 2, or to thetruck, Fig. 3. The opposite edge projects downwardly and forwardly abovethe track, and when in normal position, out of use, is elevated a fewinches above the road-bed. This elevation must be sufficient to affordample clearance in case of any rocking of the car-body or when meetingan abrupt change of grade. The devices for suspending this guard whichwe prefer to use are best shown in Fig. 1. A loose bar 2 is held in aneye 3, with which bar engages a hooked rod 4, connected to the guard A.The free end of the bar 2 is supported by a hook 5, which willordinarily retain it in place in spite of the jarring, jolting, or swingof the car, but will release such bar when any direct pressure isbrought to bear upon it from the front. This pressure is afforded andthe bar tripped by a suspended gate or fender B, which hangs from thefront of the car-body above the track and extends entirely across thesame. Connected to this fender is a rod 6, the hooked end of whichengages with the bar 2. The gate or fender is at asufiicient height fromthe ground to be in no danger of striking the road-bed at any time, `butis not high enough to avoid such an obstruction as a human body on thetrack. Its operation in connection with the guard and its suspensiondevices is well illustrated in Fig. 2. When the obstruction is met, theforward fender yields, as shown, and the hooked rod connected to itpositively disengages the cross-bar 2, which dropsdown into the positionshown in Fig. 2. This releases the support for the guard and permits thelatter to drop into the position shown in Fig. 2, where it acts as ascoop to pick up the obstruction. The tripping is practicallysimultaneous with IOO the first yielding of the -front fender, and henceno matter how fast the car may be running the guard will be iu positionto act asa practical safety device before it reaches the obstruction.

lVe prefer to suspend the guard in addition by two chains 7, whichordinarily hang slack, but which will become taut or nearly so at theinstant the edge of the guard reaches the track. The suspension devicescan be replaced in position ready for tripping through a hole S made inthe flooring of the ear and conveniently accessible to the motorniau.

IVe have already referred to the modification shown in Fig. 3, whichconsists only in attaching the guard to the car-truck instead of to itsbody. So far as the tripping is concerned the operation is the same inboth cases; but as there is comparatively little longitudinal swing tothe truck it is possible to hang the guard a little nearer theroad-bed.In this case it will only be necessary to give sufficient elevation tothe guard to avoid striking the road-bed at the commencement of anabrupt change of grade.

As thus constructed our device will be found to supply all therequirements before alluded to and to form a simple, cheaplymanufactured and absolutely etective safety-guard for cars.

Vhat we claim is- 1. In a guard for car wheels and in combination, ahinged scoop, a bar pivoted to the car and having its free enddetachably secured to the car, a hinged gate or fender suspended fromthe car, and rods extending respectively from said scoop and from saidfender and both loosely connected to the said pivoted bar, substantiallyas described.

2. In a safety guard for carwheels, and in combination, a scoopsuspended from the car in front of the wheels, a yielding gateor fendersuspended from the car in front of the scoop, a detachable bar on thecar between the scoop and fender, and hooked rods extending respectivelyfrom said scoop and fender, to said detachable bar, substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures, in presence of twowitnesses, this Sth day of June, 1895.

` HENRY H. LIBBING.

CHARLES P. HARRIS. Witnesses: S. W. SEELY, GEO. T. KNOX.

